Got Snow? Sweet Polar Bear Appears to Be Praying for Winter to Come

Young polar bears wish for snow days, too.

According to Caters News Agency, photographer Shayne McGuire captured these amazing shots while on a trip to Barter Island, Alaska.

“It was nap time for the bear, his mum and sister had already curled up, yet, there he sat, contemplating something, that we will never know,” McGuire said of the moment she caught on camera. “Then he looked up at the sky, raised his head and paws, and I heard one of my group say ‘he is praying for the ice to freeze.’”

Unfortunately, the bear’s potential wish is warranted.

McGuire, who has been visiting the frigid island every year since 2013, says there has been a noticeable drop in snow levels.

“In 2015, there were snow storms and the snow was deep,” the photographer said of how global warming is affecting this area. “Since then, I have been in early October to mid-October and have had some ice, very little snow.”

This is bad news for the polar bears, who need the temperatures to drop and the ice to freeze, so they are able to travel across the frosty expanses to hunt seals. And with the ice melting away faster each spring, the animals are working with an ever-shrinking time frame to find the food they need.

“As he finished, he went back to his mum and sister to curl up and I said ‘Well, doesn’t everyone pray before going to bed?’ ” McGuire added about what happened after the photos were taken. 

 

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